1. Field of Invention
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for conducting virtual meetings in which the environment for the virtual meeting may be chosen and specified by at least one of the participants in the virtual meeting.
2. Description of Related Art
Video conference systems are generally known in the art which provide point to point video conferencing capability between parties in different locations. These systems include, for example, H.320 protocol based systems such as Intel""s ProShare(trademark). These systems use the H.320 protocol to deliver audio, video and data from one conferencing endpoint to another.
When more than two parties are going to participate in a conference call they commonly use a bridge known as a multipoint control unit (MCU). A known MCU based system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,527 issued to Terui et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference. The MCU allows multiple parties to communicate over these systems and use various mechanisms, such as voice activation and motion detection, to determine which endpoint""s picture to put on the screen at any moment in time.
These systems are limited to the use of video that is picked up by a camera device connected to the endpoint device. Thus, the user of the endpoint device has limited control over the environment in which his/her image is shown to the other participants in the video conference. Thus, there is a need for new technology that would allow the user to have increased control over the images which are transmitted to the other participants in a video conference.
In view of the above, the present invention provides an apparatus and method for conducting a video conference. The apparatus includes a video conference apparatus connected to at least one network. The video conference apparatus includes a MCU, an environment processor, a user database interface and an environment database interface. When users log onto the video conference apparatus, it is determined whether each user has designated an alternative environment for use during the video conference. If the user has designated an alternative environment, the environment processor obtains the environment from the environment database and the video conference apparatus uses the designated environment during the video conference.
However, if the user has not designated an alternative environment, the environment processor sends a request message providing a listing of possible environments which may be used during the video conference. Thus, the user may select a desired environment from the listing and use it during the video conference. If the user does not wish to select an alternative environment, a default environment corresponding to the environment normally detected through the camera device is used during the video conference.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in or are readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention.